New Orleans Small-Group 3 Plantation Tour with Gourmet Lunch

Travel to the historic Destrehan Plantation on Louisiana's Old River Road. During your guided tour of Destrehan Plantation, your historical interpreter will bring to life the stories of generations who lived on and worked on this land. You’ll hear tales of the lives of both owners and slaves. Access to The Jefferson Room – featuring an authentic document signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Learn about the little known 1811 German Coast Slave Revolt. See the Rost Home, a Freeman Colony exhibit, both located in the Miller-Haydel Museum on Destrehan's grounds.

We pause in front of Evergreen Plantation, see the most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins in their original double-row configuration under a truly spectacular alley of centuries old oak trees. It is a privately owned, working sugar cane plantation. More than 400 individuals were enslaved at Evergreen Plantation over the course of 150 years. Many were exceptionally skilled, working as long sawyers, coopers, carpenters, blacksmiths, engineers, seamstresses, and domestics. Some could trace their ancestry back multiple generations to the first slaves brought to the plantation. This diverse community was made up of Africans, the enslaved from the American South, and Creoles of Louisiana.

On your self-guided audio walking tour, at your own pace, you will see slave cabins, a freedmen’s church, detached kitchen and a 1790s owner’s house. Learn about the harsh realities & raw historical facts of slavery in pre-Civil War Louisiana. Witness the dark side of American history. Hear narratives and see 14 memorials honoring people enslaved on the grounds of a historical sugar, rice and indigo plantation established in 1752. Visit Whitney Plantation's Museum of Slavery, learn about the lives of people held in bondage for over 100 years.

St. Joseph Plantation, built in the 1830’s is one of the few fully intact sugar plantations in the River Parishes. In addition to the Manor Home, this historic site features many outbuildings: original slave cabins, a detached kitchen, blacksmith’s shop, schoolhouse, and chicken coop.

Felicity is a sister plantation to St. Joseph. Built in 1845 on one thousand acres of premium farmland, it was a dowry gift from “Valcour” Aime to one of his daughters, Félicité. She married Alexandre Fortier and they had fourteen children.

View from the River Road the iconic alley of 28 centuries old Oaks and the 1830 Greek Revival Mansion

A short ride up on the famed River Road through sugar cane fields and over the Sunshine Bridge brings you to Houmas House Plantation. Enjoy a gourmet lunch (included) in the grand dining hall at Houmas House Plantation. The Buffet Lunch Menu:

• Chicken and Andouille Gumbo
• Caesar Salad (GF)
• Cornmeal Fried Catfish
• Chili Glazed Roasted Chicken (GF)
• Crawfish Étouffée
• Red Beans, Sausage and Rice (GF)
• Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta
• Roasted Vegetables (GF)
• White Chocolate Bread Pudding
• Non-alcoholic Drinks & Coffee (included)

After lunch, visit this Sugar Palace. Your tour guide, in antebellum dress, will lead you into 16 rooms filled with period antiques and Louisiana artwork. Upon completion in 1840, Houmas House was the crown jewel of Louisiana's River Road. Its stunning columned Greek revival exterior is topped by a belvédère that surveys the sweeping bend in the Mississippi river.

Stroll the shaded grounds and spectacular gardens before exploring the gift shop.